and chuck hagel, a republican, who you would think would be hailed as a bipartisan pick, is under fire. senator john kerry takes the oath of office today as secretary of state, replacing hillary clinton who heads off to retirement with a big question still lingering, will she run for president? >> i don't know how else to say it but i'm going get back into my life again. this is going to be new for me. i don't know how i'm going to react to it, to be honest. >> reporter: senator kerry takes over after cruising through confirmation in the senate. president obama's choice to run the pentagon is a different story. former senator chuck hagel, a vietnam veteran, took heavy fire from members of his own party for his opposition to the 2007 troop surge in iraq. >> were you correct or incorrect when you said the surge would be the most dangerous foreign policy blunder in the country since vietnam? were you correct or incorrect? >> well, i'm not going to give you a -- a yes or no answer on a lot of things today. >> let the record show you refuse to answer that question. >> reporter: he was hamme